Car: 2004 STi Mods: Perrin Turboback, AVO inlet, otherwise stock So when the car sits and idles, like when warming up in the morning or if stuck at a long light, it will start smoking and build up a lot of smoke. This smoke also occasionally comes directly from the turbo. Once you get driving, the smoke is completely gone and if you don't stop for an extended period of time it will not start smoking again. The car runs great, idles great, pulls hard and has no check engine lights. I was assuming it would need a short block when I purchased it but I did a compression test yesterday and all of the cylinders were pretty much the same (with #4 being the highest). The compression tester I borrowed from the local parts store was pretty sketchy and I'm assuming it had a bad seal because all cylinders were right around 70 which is really low but they were all that low so I'm thinking that's fine? So, anyway, I am now leaning towards the turbo being bad. Let me know your guys thoughts or if I am missing something. Just want to make sure I'm covering all my bases here before forking out cash on something I may not need.
It goes back and forth between smelling like normal exhaust and smelling like smoke from oil. I've been keeping my eye on the coolant level as well.
As much fun as it isn't, I would do another compression test with a better tester. Just to be sure. You didn't specify, is the smoke under the hood, or out of th tailpipe? If its under the hood it could be the valve covers, banjo/oil feed fitting, oil pressure switch, cam seals, rear main seal, or the oil pump itself. If its out the tailpipe and you dont havecany driveability issues or cels, then its probably the seals in your turbo going bad....do you feel like spy hunter when you start up?
Either your valve guide seals are leaking. Or your turbo seals are. Had this happen with my vf 37. Rebuilt it smoke went away.
I was basically where you are a few months ago with my wrx. Are you sure your boosting proper levels at proper rpms? currently my td04 is going out and its about 1k rpms late/laggy and it clunks a bit when playing with the throttle at neutral. What I would do if i were you, is rent a better compression tester (with longer extensions to make it easier), or buy one. Theyre not too bad, and for the piece of mind of knowing whether or not its the engine is worth it in my opinion.
Yeah, I was quite upset when the first cylinder came back so low, then all the others did the same. I was thinking I would go buy a new tester and give it a go again tomorrow, see if I can take all of the skin off my knuckles this weekend. It smokes out of the tailpipe and directly from the turbo. The smoke coming from the turbo usually happens infrequently and only after it is up to operating temp. It looks like I'm fogging for mosquitos down half my street when I finally leave but then, after about it block it doesn't smoke again until I'm stopped and idling.
Like Jason said it could be valve guide seals, it is rarer to have that happen. If you see smoke from the actual turbo then I would put my chips on bad turbo seals. Get that thing rebuilt before you destroy the turbo and your motor!! Midwest turbo can service the VF series turbos. Dan is very nice and if you call ahead he can have everything ready so turn around time is pretty quick.
Thanks, I think this is what I am going to do. Just to be sure, is this the correct procedure for a compression test on these engines: Pulled all plugs, pulled ignition fuse, cranked with accelerator to the floor 6-7 times, repeat for each cylinder.
another thing you can do to check out your turbo is to remove the down pipe and see if you have any shaft play by wiggling the shaft. if your comfortable with your car it will take like 15 minutes.
So I did another compression test this morning and all cylinders came back at right around 130 so I think I can eliminate ringland failure.
thats chill. i wanna say you burned out your turbos oil seals, as thats what im thinking i did. I would imagine the smoke we see from idle is oil leaking into the exhaust and burning.
Little update on this. I put a new VF39 in today and I'm sure glad I quit driving it on Saturday. The old turbo has insane shaft play, like move it around and hit the housing shaft play. Also found when I removed the turbo that my inner boot on the passenger side axle is torn so that could explain the smoke from around the turbo I think. Hopefully get a new axle thrown in next weekend and everything should be good (knock on wood).
How did the intercooler look? the throttle body? Was there sparkly oil in either of those? Did you drain the oil and run it through a coffee filter? Looking for any evidence of metal shavings from the turbo in the motor...
No metallic looking oil in either of those locations. Throttle body and outlet of the intercooler were clean and looked good. The inlet tube/pipes going to the intercooler had a lot of built up oil in it that I cleaned out. I drained the oil and ran it through a filter and it looked good so I'm thinking I should be in the clear. Put in new oil and a new filter and I am going to change the oil and filter again in 100 miles just be on the safe side.
Glad to see you took our advice, inspected it, and fortunately it's "only" a turbo (not a popped motor). Too many people run er til she blows when major issues could have been prevented. I hope all is well now, and keep giving 'er hell! haha.
